back to indexWed Bible Study Philippians Lesson 7
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Alright everybody, hope you guys had a good time of discussion and looking over the passage. 00:00:09.680 |
We'll draw our attention up here and then we'll start with our Bible study. 00:00:14.080 |
Let's, what I'd like to do is just read the passage, we'll take a moment to pray 00:00:22.360 |
Philippians 2, 19 through 30, and the passage says, "But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send 00:00:29.360 |
Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 00:00:34.880 |
For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 00:00:39.520 |
For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. 00:00:44.160 |
But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel 00:00:51.680 |
Therefore I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I see how things go with me. 00:00:57.040 |
And I trust in the Lord that I myself also will be coming shortly, that I thought it 00:01:01.360 |
necessary to send to you a prophet Dytus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, 00:01:06.920 |
who is also your messenger and minister to my knee. 00:01:10.360 |
Because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was 00:01:15.600 |
For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only 00:01:21.080 |
but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow. 00:01:25.520 |
Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly, so that when you see him again you may rejoice, 00:01:33.960 |
Receive him in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard, because 00:01:39.240 |
he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient 00:01:50.200 |
Lord, we want to again thank you for the word, and God as we look at these model servants 00:01:57.000 |
and people of the past, Father we want to all the more see the effect of Christ in their 00:02:07.080 |
We want to see the outworking God of the transformation in their lives, so that God we would continue 00:02:12.480 |
to learn to grow in our affections, in our resemblance of Christ, in our desire to further 00:02:18.320 |
the gospel ministry, and so to this end God I do pray that you would help your word continue 00:02:29.480 |
Okay, so by way of introduction, you know I typically like to ask the question, how 00:02:38.920 |
What is the flow of thought is what I always ask, and what I like to highlight is this. 00:02:46.240 |
When we think about this current section where Apostle Paul highlights two individuals in 00:02:51.920 |
his life who are essentially model servants, we ask the question how did his thought get 00:02:58.160 |
Well remember that in chapter one, Apostle Paul in just kind of almost incredible fashion 00:03:05.440 |
expressed his heart, expressed his desire, and what I like to say is he expressed his 00:03:12.000 |
And remember what he said is, "To my earnest expectation and hope that I will not be put 00:03:16.360 |
to shame in anything, but that with all boldness Christ will even now as always be exalted 00:03:21.560 |
in my body, whether by life or by death, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." 00:03:29.400 |
And what was pretty amazing was that this hope, this hope of being a shining light, 00:03:37.360 |
a hope of being an exaltation of Christ was something that helped him interpret or make 00:03:44.160 |
Make sense of the suffering, make sense of his current condition in life, make sense 00:03:48.960 |
of why he could have joy within the circumstance. 00:03:53.000 |
And so he spent a lot of time in chapter one talking about this incredible hope that carries 00:04:01.840 |
And then in chapter two, he commanded and encouraged that we should have this attitude, 00:04:09.400 |
Remember that if there is any encouragement and if there's any of this, he says, "Make 00:04:13.680 |
my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, 00:04:21.040 |
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another 00:04:27.760 |
Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of 00:04:33.560 |
Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus." 00:04:39.060 |
So he describes that this attitude of humility, this attitude of self-sacrifice, selflessness, 00:04:45.520 |
this attitude that is found in Jesus where he did not regard his deity to be grasped 00:04:55.600 |
And then in the last passage that we studied two weeks ago, he said for us to join in this 00:05:05.600 |
What he says was, "But even if I'm being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice 00:05:09.640 |
and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with all of you. 00:05:15.240 |
You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me." 00:05:20.400 |
And if you think about it, when Apostle Paul ended the last paragraph by saying, "Share 00:05:29.120 |
He wasn't just saying like, "Be happy, man," right? 00:05:33.640 |
He's actually all that he was saying from chapter one till now, he wants them to experience 00:05:38.720 |
the full gamut, which means then, yes, joining in the hope that is in Christ, joining in 00:05:45.160 |
the attitude that is with Christ, but also then the work of Christ that involves suffering, 00:05:51.160 |
self-sacrifice, a desire to minister to the people around and considering their, right, 00:05:56.360 |
their interest in welfare far above and beyond your own. 00:06:00.920 |
And so it totally makes sense that as his mind is there saying, "Join me, share this 00:06:05.800 |
joy," he presents to you two case examples of two individuals who are walking with him 00:06:12.000 |
sharing this joy, right, which is Timothy and Epaphroditus who have this hope in Christ, 00:06:18.760 |
who clearly has this attitude of the Lord and is engaged in the work of our Savior. 00:06:24.500 |
And so I wanted to give you that introduction just to show you that this isn't just this 00:06:28.940 |
random move into, "Hey, these two guys happen to be working, can you guys make sure to receive 00:06:34.880 |
His flow of thought actually is seen in all of this, where he began with this idea that 00:06:41.120 |
the exaltation of Christ should be at the forefront of his mind. 00:06:45.560 |
Now as I think about that, as we think about this, and we just read the passage, I want 00:06:50.080 |
to introduce this idea, right, that Apostle Paul, he is clearly thinking about the well-being 00:06:58.120 |
So although he's presenting two case model servants who are exemplifying hope in Christ, 00:07:04.360 |
attitude of Christ, work of Christ, he himself also is still showing forth his care and love 00:07:12.920 |
And as we do that, one of the questions I asked you to prepare for this, tonight's study, 00:07:17.840 |
was this idea of as Apostle Paul is seeking to send these servants and we see his attitude 00:07:23.880 |
towards the church, what kind of principles or what is being said then about his attitude 00:07:31.900 |
And so clearly, we're going to kind of unpack this idea of all three men, Paul, Timothy, 00:07:39.000 |
They show this genuine concern and they show that concern with an incredible level of self-sacrifice. 00:07:47.680 |
And so when we think about individuals who should be at the forefront of caring for ministry, 00:07:53.840 |
leading the flock, it should be those who are willing, absolutely willing to sacrifice 00:08:00.400 |
and lay down whatever it is they have for the sake of the interest of the church. 00:08:05.400 |
All right, jumping into this first section, okay? 00:08:11.080 |
So this passage nicely divides into first section about Timothy and then the second 00:08:20.880 |
Starting from verse 19 through 22, let's take a moment to reread the passage and he says, 00:08:26.920 |
but I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly so that I also may be encouraged 00:08:34.820 |
So we regularly get this idea that Apostle Paul was constantly checking up on how the 00:08:40.320 |
I want to hear this, I want to hear your faith, I want to hear your works, right? 00:08:46.560 |
Verse 20, for I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for 00:08:50.920 |
your welfare, for they all seek after their own interests but not those of Christ Jesus. 00:08:56.680 |
But you know of his proven worth that he served me in the furtherance of the gospel like a 00:09:02.360 |
Therefore, I hope to send him immediately as soon as I see how things go with me. 00:09:08.440 |
And I trust in the Lord that I myself also will be coming shortly. 00:09:13.600 |
Okay, as we take a look at that passage, we see a lot of Apostle Paul giving, you know, 00:09:22.040 |
highlighting the noble character and commendations of Timothy's character. 00:09:27.400 |
And so I ask what are some of these character traits that Apostle Paul highlights? 00:09:33.160 |
Well I highlighted those things in green for you guys, the things that I saw. 00:09:37.160 |
You can highlight this idea of like he's got this kindred spirit that's really basically 00:09:41.120 |
like-minded with Apostle Paul, genuine concern, proven worth, and he served the furtherance 00:09:48.440 |
of the gospel like a child serving the father. 00:09:51.020 |
Let's take a moment to talk about each one of those things in a little bit more further 00:09:55.720 |
First, when we think about a kindred spirit, okay, the way I outlined it is what he does 00:10:02.080 |
is he gives one main character trait and he gives a little further explanation of it. 00:10:08.640 |
He begins by saying he has this kindred spirit. 00:10:11.960 |
And the whole idea there is that there is this like-mindedness, right, that as Apostle 00:10:18.780 |
Paul has this like, you know, singular drive to exalt Christ, as Apostle Paul is interpreting 00:10:25.760 |
all that's happening in his life, including the suffering, and he's finding joy in it, 00:10:30.560 |
right, he's saying Timothy has this same worldview. 00:10:34.400 |
Now let me ask you this interesting question. 00:10:37.040 |
How difficult do you think it is to find somebody who's going to have the exact same worldview 00:10:43.320 |
Where you're experiencing persecution, the confiscation of your rights, currently he's 00:10:47.760 |
being held unfairly, they don't have a legitimate accusation, but he's held in Roman prison 00:10:54.960 |
They kind of don't know what to do with him, right? 00:11:00.600 |
His perspective is look at these opportunities to share. 00:11:03.660 |
His perspective is I am counted worthy to share and exalt the glories of Christ. 00:11:10.040 |
I mean, how difficult is it to get somebody to be on that exact same page? 00:11:16.160 |
What Apostle Paul is saying is, dude, Timothy is not missing a beat here, he's right there 00:11:22.720 |
He's got this kindred spirit, right, where he's not focused on himself, where he's not 00:11:27.440 |
focused in on woe is me, shouldn't God help me get out of this, why do we have to X, Y, 00:11:33.280 |
and Z, but actually he's thinking about and being concerned for the well-being of the 00:11:39.160 |
So in that, he says that Timothy is of kindred spirit having this genuine concern for the 00:11:51.440 |
And so this is kind of like an interesting question we should stop at and put a stake 00:11:56.600 |
And for your discussion later, there will be this question. 00:11:59.720 |
When you think genuine concern as opposed to superficial kind of light concern, what 00:12:09.640 |
Meaning what's the difference between just having a care for somebody, just like let's 00:12:12.760 |
say, you know, it's like, oh, I care about everybody here at church versus something 00:12:17.840 |
What are the characteristics of a concern that goes above and beyond, right? 00:12:21.420 |
Those are some things that we should talk about. 00:12:23.920 |
But we want to highlight and look at the passage and see that Apostle Paul contrasts this genuine 00:12:29.960 |
concern with verse 21, "For they all seek their own interests and not for Christ Jesus." 00:12:38.040 |
You know, when I was making observation of this passage and I was trying to connect this 00:12:44.280 |
whole idea, I just realized like, you know, Apostle Paul, again, his thoughts in the letter 00:12:50.080 |
Earlier, he said, "You need to have this humility. 00:12:54.040 |
Don't be looking out for your own interests, but look out for the interests of others." 00:12:59.220 |
And then I started asking myself, "Hmm, what are some moments in specific cases where I 00:13:04.400 |
was trying to care for somebody, but my own self-interest got in the way?" 00:13:11.480 |
What are some moments and times when you are trying to care for somebody or you're already 00:13:15.760 |
in a position where you're expected to care for somebody, but then your own care for yourself 00:13:22.560 |
And I started thinking about some examples, right? 00:13:25.400 |
So there are times when you are trying to help somebody, maybe you're trying to advise 00:13:30.440 |
someone in their life decisions, and in those moments when they're not listening, you get 00:13:35.480 |
You're like, "Oh, aren't you listening to me?" 00:13:38.520 |
Do these apostles, have they ever experienced that? 00:13:42.760 |
Almost every city they get into, there's this frustration. 00:13:48.240 |
There could be a moment when you just go, "You know who I am? 00:13:54.720 |
Or have you guys ever experienced a moment when somebody's maybe asking you advice, they 00:13:58.920 |
don't listen, but then they go ask somebody else because they think somebody else might 00:14:02.080 |
have better advice, and you're sitting there thinking, "What? 00:14:06.240 |
Why did you ask me if you're going to go ask somebody else?" 00:14:09.120 |
Have there been moments when you got super offended because somebody maybe you've been 00:14:13.560 |
caring for, maybe it's a younger sister, maybe it's a younger brother, maybe it's your little 00:14:20.000 |
Your family, so you should know, but they don't tell you, and you're all offended. 00:14:25.600 |
You know, there was this moment actually when somebody came to me and started apologizing, 00:14:31.760 |
It's like, "I started dating and I didn't tell you." 00:14:35.120 |
And I just took this moment, and I don't know why something came over me, and I just started 00:14:45.200 |
But there are those moments when if, let's say you're close to somebody, but they don't 00:14:49.120 |
share with you, all of a sudden you're like, "Who am I to you? 00:14:55.440 |
What I'm talking about is these case moments when your own thought of yourself reacts. 00:15:04.120 |
Your own consideration of your value within that whole scenario of caring for somebody, 00:15:13.060 |
Remember the moment you say, "What about me?" 00:15:14.600 |
All of a sudden, that distinction of genuine care begins to get muddied. 00:15:20.840 |
And then I started thinking, "Well, I don't know that I necessarily struggle in that way. 00:15:29.840 |
If you want to date, you can come to me for advice because I love giving advice. 00:15:34.560 |
But it's not like you have to cross-check everything with me." 00:15:37.760 |
But then I started asking, "What in me, as a self-interest, prevents me from genuinely 00:15:45.440 |
And one of the moments that I had, I just had to confess, was typically for me, is I 00:15:51.560 |
shy away from sharing or saying what I need to because I worry whether you'll like me 00:15:59.800 |
Like if I'm honest, and this is just me being honest with you, perhaps some of the other 00:16:09.680 |
Those are the things that I just really don't care about, right? 00:16:12.960 |
But what I really care about is, if I say this, then what if you stop coming to me, 00:16:20.400 |
What if you react in a way where you're defensive? 00:16:23.800 |
What I wrestle with is my consideration of myself and the future, am I going to say what 00:16:34.200 |
And I got to say, sometimes that kind of struggle, it doesn't even hit me until later, right? 00:16:44.280 |
And then I got to go to the Lord and say, "Hmm, you know, Lord, the biggest hurdle wasn't 00:16:48.960 |
even their defensiveness because they weren't even defensive to me. 00:16:54.360 |
And in my fear and assumption, I didn't say what I needed to say." 00:17:02.480 |
It's because we take notice of the fact that in verse 21, when he says, "They all seek 00:17:08.680 |
after their own interest," it's not just about the interest of the two parties involved. 00:17:16.520 |
It's about the interest of those two parties in the context of Christ, what Christ is wanting 00:17:21.600 |
for their lives, what Christ is wanting for their sanctification. 00:17:25.000 |
And so that portion of it was incredibly convicting for me because Timothy, he's saying, is an 00:17:30.720 |
individual who is genuinely concerned about your welfare, but clearly implied in that 00:17:36.500 |
in contrast to the other individuals, Timothy is dedicated to the interest of Christ, right? 00:17:43.440 |
Timothy is a young man, but we know from the other passages that Apostle Paul challenges 00:17:47.240 |
him, "Don't let these other people diminish who you are because you're young, but rather 00:17:52.560 |
speak boldly, preach the word, in season, out of season, give the truth." 00:17:59.560 |
Because he's supposed to be a servant of Christ, that he needs to do the work of the evangelist. 00:18:04.960 |
And Apostle Paul is saying, he has this genuine interest. 00:18:08.880 |
Wow, what a great commendation of a young servant. 00:18:12.840 |
What's more, he talks about how Timothy has a proven worth, and he says, "You know this, 00:18:20.520 |
"That he served me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child." 00:18:27.040 |
When he talks about proven worth, he says that everybody knows of this. 00:18:32.920 |
And what's really interesting is some of you guys have asked, I got a text saying, "Huh, 00:18:37.440 |
how come he says there's no one like Timothy? 00:18:42.680 |
And isn't that unfair to everybody else, right? 00:18:44.720 |
Because truthfully speaking, yeah, Apostle Paul had Silas, Apostle Paul had even Luke, 00:18:49.520 |
Apostle Paul had Barnabas, lots of other people. 00:18:53.200 |
And you can imagine, if I'm in small group and I look over and I was like, "All I have 00:19:01.600 |
And then Jonathan's over there like, "What about me?" 00:19:08.440 |
What I'm saying is, yeah, Apostle Paul is not just using hyperbole just to be all dramatic. 00:19:14.360 |
Genuinely speaking, Timothy was a unique individual. 00:19:17.080 |
I've included for you an appendix at the very end of your packet. 00:19:23.080 |
Timothy has gone through the journeys with Apostle Paul. 00:19:32.880 |
You look at this and it actually kind of is mind-baffling. 00:19:38.560 |
What I want to highlight for you is that, I'm not sure if you can see my pointer, but 00:19:43.480 |
here on this dot in Lystra is where Apostle Paul and Silas pick up Timothy. 00:19:50.960 |
But what happens is, in their journey, Timothy starts to follow and he travels all the way 00:19:55.760 |
down that whole red path, all the way over to Ephesus, and that's where he remains for 00:20:06.120 |
I mean, that journey is no small stretch of land. 00:20:13.820 |
1,200 miles on foot, on boat, on donkey backs. 00:20:19.360 |
I was thinking about what Timothy has gone through, and you see the journey. 00:20:23.000 |
We're not going to go over it for the sake of time, but almost all these churches that 00:20:27.900 |
we hear of, all the churches that we have, the letters in the Bible, understand that 00:20:32.440 |
Timothy was an integral part in most of those churches. 00:20:38.200 |
This part's going to be a little bit funny, okay? 00:20:42.380 |
Before he begins this second missionary journey, Apostle Paul decides to have Timothy circumcised 00:20:49.160 |
so that it wouldn't be a hindrance to him sharing. 00:20:52.340 |
And then I thought, "Oh, dude, when Paul says, 'Dude, you know he's proven,' back of their 00:21:04.480 |
This is kind of meditating, like, number one, Timothy didn't know that he was going to go 00:21:12.760 |
Clearly they were going to -- he was going to leave everything and go. 00:21:20.560 |
He was following with faith, not knowing what's ahead, proving. 00:21:28.840 |
If I was him, I'd be like, "Dude, I just lie," and be like, "I got it, right? 00:21:41.240 |
And I know it's partially funny, but at the same time, it's like, clearly even as a young 00:21:46.360 |
man, his willingness to serve the cause of the gospel was evident to the degree Apostle 00:21:57.600 |
So when Paul says, like, "Timothy is being raised up, and it's realistically so." 00:22:03.000 |
He wasn't just one of just many people who did all the same stuff. 00:22:07.040 |
He was willing to go to great extents, great extents, to further the cause of the gospel. 00:22:12.240 |
Now, the other thing here is, though, when he says back in the passage that Timothy served 00:22:19.920 |
him like a child with a father, I thought about that for a moment, and I just want to 00:22:24.160 |
ask you this question, like, how should we appreciate that to a greater degree, right? 00:22:29.400 |
Because I don't think it was just a cultural thing where, like, yes, they did have a kind 00:22:33.680 |
of culture where they had mentors and disciples, and you had these significant figures who 00:22:39.240 |
were teachers, and because, you know, they elevated, especially in that Greek culture, 00:22:43.480 |
they elevated people with knowledge, so if they had knowledge, they would give them gifts 00:22:49.040 |
But I don't think this was just cultural, right? 00:22:52.080 |
Because it wasn't like, "Oh, yeah, you know, he really respected me as his instructor." 00:22:56.520 |
He says like a son to a father, and that really challenged me. 00:23:01.600 |
I just had to kind of gather myself, because, you know, honestly speaking, I got to even 00:23:05.760 |
ask myself, like, do I even treat my own father really well? 00:23:09.120 |
My father's retired, he's older, he has some health issues. 00:23:14.240 |
Typically speaking in this generation, our parents complain, like, "You never call me. 00:23:19.480 |
And all of a sudden, I was like, "Oh, my gosh." 00:23:22.800 |
You know, like, Apostle Paul and these servants of the Lord are checking up on people, seeing 00:23:30.560 |
We kind of live in a generation where our parents are being neglected. 00:23:34.680 |
It's months goes by and we don't even visit, right? 00:23:46.480 |
He's not just being a brown-noser and a, you know, just a suck-up or something like that, 00:23:50.520 |
like, "Oh, I want to be a leader, too, so I got to do this for you." 00:23:53.000 |
No, he treats him like his own blood, like his dad. 00:23:57.720 |
And then clearly, he treats the people underneath him exactly the same. 00:24:03.140 |
And so what I see in this young servant is this amazing character trait. 00:24:06.480 |
He is loving them and being concerned for them, both up and down, no matter who they 00:24:14.160 |
And again, I can't necessarily give all the details of what that might look like, but 00:24:21.620 |
You meet this individual who is a radical missionary, but you start caring for him because 00:24:27.080 |
of the gospel he carries, because of the love that God is showing through him and building 00:24:31.480 |
in you, you start treating this person like your own dad. 00:24:42.120 |
So in summary, Apostle Paul really lifts up Timothy as a model servant who is, in summary, 00:24:49.440 |
genuinely concerned for the welfare of the people and genuinely concerned for the interests 00:24:55.600 |
And clearly he's willing, he's absolutely willing to go the distance and to lay the 00:25:01.320 |
sacrifices down and to treat all those around exactly as Christ would, with a sense of selflessness 00:25:09.600 |
Okay, we need to move on to the second section. 00:25:13.480 |
Here in verse 25 to 30, we move to Epaphroditus. 00:25:20.600 |
And I read the passage, this portion for us is, "But I thought it necessary to send to 00:25:25.320 |
you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger 00:25:32.080 |
and minister to my knee, because he was longing for you, longing for you all, and was distressed 00:25:41.360 |
For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, 00:25:47.240 |
but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow. 00:25:51.640 |
Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly, so that when you see him again, you may rejoice, 00:25:59.960 |
Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard, because 00:26:04.960 |
he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient 00:26:16.160 |
First, we think about the first section in verse 25, where he says, "I felt it necessary 00:26:23.840 |
Just real briefly, Epaphroditus, cool thing, his name means charming, okay? 00:26:31.520 |
Alright, but the cool thing is, Apostle Paul gives him various titles, or I guess certain 00:26:36.120 |
labels that summarize his role and his relationship with Apostle Paul. 00:26:42.600 |
He says, "My brother, fellow worker, soldier, messenger, and minister." 00:26:46.840 |
Okay, I made a little chart for you guys there. 00:26:48.920 |
And the reason why I did this is because we don't have time to do it right now, but in 00:26:53.480 |
your own time, you gotta think about what those things really represent, right? 00:26:59.320 |
'Cause meaning, you don't just call anybody who's not your brother, like, "Man, you're 00:27:04.640 |
'Cause you know what he's talking about is that kind of blood tie loyalty. 00:27:08.280 |
We're gonna be now in a certain relationship where it's gonna be thick. 00:27:14.280 |
No matter what happens here, we're not changing our status, yes? 00:27:21.560 |
What's more, he talks about there is this being a fellow worker, being a fellow soldier. 00:27:27.000 |
I mean, all of these things we could describe, but I want you to think about this, envision 00:27:37.040 |
When I think soldiers, I think, "I depend on you to cover me. 00:27:44.600 |
Fellow soldiers also having mutual experiences, experiences that are incredible, experiences 00:27:50.600 |
that are severe, experiences that are not the norm, right? 00:27:53.920 |
And so there is this focus of intent, focus of purpose. 00:27:57.800 |
That kind of stuff is what I'm talking about, and we need to pay attention to those things. 00:28:02.200 |
Now, moving forward, I had asked this question, which was important. 00:28:07.560 |
Apostle Paul clearly says, "I really, really want to send Timothy to you, but I felt it 00:28:12.640 |
necessary to send the prophet Titus," and the question is why? 00:28:16.800 |
If he really wants to eventually get out of prison, and he has hopes, he's confident that 00:28:21.960 |
things are going to essentially work out, and history has it, yes, in the second journey, 00:28:27.720 |
after the second journey, there is this long period. 00:28:30.640 |
We're talking almost two years of imprisonment in Rome, where people, again, they're holding 00:28:36.360 |
him without right reason, all that kind of stuff, but then he is released. 00:28:40.240 |
There's about three years from this time until the time where he actually gets executed, 00:28:44.560 |
but within that time, he has opportunity to revisit the Macedonian area. 00:28:49.960 |
Scripture describes generally that he visited the Macedonian area, but it makes sense, prime 00:28:53.760 |
location in Macedonia is Philippi, but in thinking through this, Apostle Paul says, 00:28:58.960 |
"I want to send to you Epaphroditus," and we ask the question why? 00:29:05.020 |
So going back to the passage, he says, verse 26, "Because he was longing for you all, and 00:29:14.160 |
was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. 00:29:18.080 |
For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, 00:29:23.320 |
but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow. 00:29:27.200 |
Therefore, I have sent him all the more eagerly, so that when you see him again, you may rejoice." 00:29:36.640 |
When you take a moment to slow down and think about this, what I'm saying is this, okay? 00:29:41.200 |
Number one, what's really, really clear is that Paul felt the need to send Epaphroditus 00:29:54.540 |
He wanted to see them, and there was this desire in his heart to go to them. 00:30:00.100 |
But I show you this map, and this map has the flight, airplane flight, the car, and 00:30:05.200 |
this other stuff, because this is from modern day Google Maps. 00:30:08.160 |
But remember, Rome is over here, and Philippi is way over here. 00:30:15.120 |
Here it has it in kilometers, 1,300, 20-something kilometers, okay? 00:30:21.040 |
Just the fact that he would travel this distance to be a minister to Apostle Paul, that alone 00:30:30.040 |
Because what's evident is that the church, Philippi, loved Apostle Paul. 00:30:34.800 |
And what's more, in Apostle Paul's regular ministry, Apostle Paul was regularly giving 00:30:39.320 |
financial help to churches that were in need. 00:30:43.340 |
So what's more, those in the Macedonians were giving money both for Apostle Paul's ministry 00:30:56.880 |
I'm guessing traveling this contributed to his sickness. 00:31:00.440 |
And if it was any one of us, we would have probably been tempted to stop right here before 00:31:04.880 |
he hit the water, because traveling waters at that time was dangerous. 00:31:08.840 |
Maybe at this time, if he got really sick, he'd be tempted to stop, use some of that 00:31:12.040 |
money for Airbnb and whatever it may be, right? 00:31:16.740 |
That's what you would expect any normal person to do. 00:31:19.280 |
But what I'm saying is, in the highlight of Epaphroditus' character, he carried that all 00:31:32.000 |
But nonetheless, Epaphroditus is saying, "I want to." 00:31:38.480 |
Because the church thought their dear messenger, their dear minister to Apostle Paul was sick 00:31:56.080 |
And so he sends this saying, "I want you to rejoice." 00:32:01.140 |
If you send this man who is essentially kind of like cream of the crop of your church, 00:32:06.720 |
Apostle Paul sees him as like a model, model servant. 00:32:11.360 |
And then that scene, if he comes back saying, "I successfully carried your message and gift 00:32:16.200 |
Apostle Paul is doing well and sharing the gospel, and he's overjoyed." 00:32:19.680 |
And when they see each other, what a beautiful sight that would be. 00:32:27.200 |
My goodness, if Epaphroditus was a lesser man, he wouldn't make this trip. 00:32:32.640 |
He would have been like, "Nah, I'd rather stay. 00:32:42.840 |
So again, commending Epaphroditus as a fellow servant or as a servant, he carries this. 00:32:48.960 |
Now, one of the things I want to highlight before I start wrapping things up by way of 00:32:56.040 |
In the description of why Epaphroditus wants to go, there's two. 00:33:02.680 |
He says there is a longing for you all, but there's also this. 00:33:12.040 |
Somehow the message got through that the church is worried because Epaphroditus is sick, right? 00:33:21.600 |
Have you met those people who don't want to be a burden so much to others? 00:33:28.440 |
A, they're the people who are constantly saying, "Oh, I'm sorry, sorry, sorry. 00:33:34.440 |
And then there are those people who, because they're always like that, they get sick and 00:33:40.200 |
And then you're all worried and you're all frustrated, like, "Tell me. 00:33:46.800 |
You don't have to drag yourself over, but there are those people who are like that. 00:33:50.120 |
Now that kind of stream I don't think is good. 00:33:58.200 |
But clearly what's really interesting is Epaphroditus hears that they're worried and he wants to 00:34:03.800 |
relieve their worry even though he's dead sick. 00:34:09.320 |
The concern and burden goes so deep that even though he's the one who's super sick, he's 00:34:18.280 |
Brothers and sisters, I want to give you this interesting challenge. 00:34:22.600 |
Sometimes in our love, one of the greatest things we're going to carry is incredible 00:34:39.160 |
And sometimes we're super frustrated with the people we're ministered to. 00:34:49.440 |
Because part of that is their weakness is a burden on you. 00:34:53.320 |
But as a challenge to every single one of us, if we are to love, we're going to always 00:35:06.200 |
And that's one of the interesting things where it's not a physical pain, it's not a physical 00:35:10.720 |
discomfort, but it's going to be internal, right? 00:35:14.880 |
That their well-being is going to, especially if they're not doing well, it's going to bother 00:35:20.240 |
And so Epaphroditus reveals his affection for these people. 00:35:25.680 |
Although he's sick, he's over here, he could have easily been like, "We're sick, man. 00:35:35.640 |
He even wanted to travel that distance to relieve their worry. 00:35:42.080 |
And so by way of conclusion, Apostle Paul gives this command, "Receive them." 00:35:47.240 |
We're not going to have time to go over all the details, but I'm going to wrap these things 00:35:50.520 |
up by saying, "In so doing, in carrying these things, he's carrying the worry and distress 00:35:58.780 |
And because he is like that," Apostle Paul says, "men like this," and it carries through 00:36:03.440 |
both Epaphroditus, Timothy, and Paul, "men like this hold in high regard. 00:36:13.720 |
And so we ask this question, "How should the church regard these people?" 00:36:18.800 |
Well, what I'd really like to say is, in all honesty, the point is not so much, "How are 00:36:26.480 |
Because that's a legitimate question because we don't want to put people on a pedestal. 00:36:43.320 |
And we shouldn't necessarily put them on this false pedestal. 00:36:45.600 |
But nevertheless, there are people of noble character that we should elevate. 00:36:55.320 |
Because naturally, we already give our ear and eyes to the people we admire. 00:37:02.040 |
But then the main question is, "What are we admiring them for?" 00:37:11.280 |
Because clearly, clearly, if they're productive, clearly if they're fruitful, clearly if they're 00:37:21.040 |
These individuals are noble because of their heart of affection for you. 00:37:25.160 |
These individuals are noble because their care for you is genuine. 00:37:28.600 |
These individuals are noble because their love for the Lord is genuine. 00:37:34.600 |
They're willing to go, yes, clearly to death." 00:37:39.600 |
The people we admire, we're going to automatically listen to and emulate. 00:37:43.920 |
And the challenge therefore for us then is that's already natural in us. 00:37:49.480 |
We already try to be like the people we like. 00:37:52.880 |
The question is, "What are we actually looking at?" 00:37:55.580 |
And so today we have, remember at the beginning I said, "These men are not above and beyond 00:38:03.560 |
What they have is the hope of Christ, the attitude of Christ, and they're engaged in 00:38:17.560 |
Heavenly Father, we want to thank you, God, for your grace. 00:38:20.640 |
Lord, because all of us, we have this amazing privilege in this generation where you have 00:38:30.100 |
sent your messengers, you've sent your servants, and then you've called every single one of 00:38:34.820 |
us to be these things for one another, to be the caretakers of each other, to be the 00:38:39.940 |
supporters, encouragers, and edifiers of each other. 00:38:44.540 |
And so, God, we thank you that you as our Heavenly Father, you've looked at your children 00:38:48.980 |
and caused us, Lord, to have the maturity that you want us to have, and you've inspired 00:38:56.820 |
I do pray, Father God, that every single one of us will be challenged in the way that we 00:39:00.380 |
love, and we'll challenge in the way that we love each other. 00:39:04.060 |
And I pray, Father God, that although, yes, we struggle with our own selfishness, although, 00:39:09.220 |
yes, Father God, our hearts are sometimes so mixed, we do pray for your sanctifying 00:39:15.380 |
work, that God, our care for you and our care for the church will be pure. 00:39:21.900 |
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